One thousand chub and 2,000 roach are destined for the River Tyne at Prudhoe and a further 3,000 dace and 2,000 chub will be released into the River Team, Gateshead. Five stillwater fisheries in the region will also be stocked with 12,000 roach, rudd and crucian carp to help improve angling.
The Environment Agency releases fish into our waterways annually. Fisheries officers target fish stocking activity using data from national fish surveys to identify where there are problems with poor breeding and survival.
Environment Agency fisheries officers Paul Frear and Chris Carter will be introducing the fish to their new homes.
Mr Frear said: “We are pleased that we can provide these fish for stocking as part of our obligation to rod licence paying anglers. Restoration and the creation of new fisheries for all people to enjoy, is a very important aspect to our work.”
The River Team in Gateshead has suffered from poor water quality and habitat degradation in the past, but a concerted effort by the Environment Agency has helped to turn this watercourse around.
High spring flows on the River Tyne have impacted on coarse fish survival, so the Environment Agency has built a river backwater that will be a safe haven for the newly stocked fish, giving them the very best chance to thrive.
Anglers who fish Silksworth Lake in Sunderland will see stocks boosted after fish escaped from the lake during flooding in 2012. Sunderland Fresh Water Angling Club, with funding from the Environment Agency, repaired the outfall to Silksworth Lake to prevent further losses of fish.
Roger Turner from Sunderland Freshwater Water Angling Club is appreciative of the contribution that the Environment Agency has made to improve fish stocks for local anglers.
Mr Turner said: “After losing so many fish over a dam at the bottom of our lake, help was provided by the Environment Agency to create a barrier to prevent further losses. Now they are to provide a supply of fish to restock the lake and this will prove invaluable to the anglers of the club and fishermen in general.”
The fish all come from the Environment Agency’s Fish farm at Calverton, in Nottinghamshire, where between 350,000 and 500,000 fish are produced to stock rivers across the country each year.
